Hey Pandas, Share A Totally Fake Story (Closed)

If you’ve ever told a story that started with “This totally happened…” while your friends squinted at you like,
“Sure it did,” congratulations you already understand the spirit of Hey Pandas, Share A Totally Fake Story.
Threads like this on Bored Panda invite people to drop all pretense of realism and lean into pure, joyful nonsense.

Even though the original submission is closed, the idea lives on: a safe, playful corner of the internet where
everyone knows the story is fake and that’s the whole point. No fact-checkers, no pressures to be deep and
vulnerable just tall tales, wild plot twists, and a comment section full of people laughing together.

What Is “Hey Pandas, Share A Totally Fake Story” All About?

The Hey Pandas format on Bored Panda is basically an open mic night for the community. One person
posts a prompt (in this case, “Share a totally fake story”), and everyone else jumps in with their own creations.
Think of it as a crowd-sourced book of absurd micro-fiction where every story proudly fails a lie detector test.

A “totally fake story” thread flips our usual social media habits upside down. Most online spaces reward polished,
real-life highlight reels. Here, you’re rewarded for the exact opposite: being obviously unrealistic, cheerfully
dramatic, and delightfully extra. It’s a place where:

• Hyperbole is not just allowed, it’s expected.
• Plots can break every rule of logic and physics.
• Readers come in with one goal: to be entertained, not informed.

In other words, it’s storytelling stripped down to its oldest purpose: making people laugh and feel connected.

Why We Love Totally Fake Stories More Than Perfectly True Ones

Here’s the secret: even when we know a story is fake, our brains still light up for it. Creative writing and playful
storytelling are linked to better mental flexibility, lower stress, and a stronger sense of personal expression.
They give us a safe sandbox to test out “what if” scenarios without real-world consequences.

A totally fake story thread hits a very specific sweet spot:

• Low pressure: Nobody expects your story to be factual or life-changing.
• High creativity: You can throw in dragons, time travel, sentient houseplants, or talking
  raccoons without explaining anything.
• Instant community: When you see dozens of other people also being ridiculous on purpose,
  you feel like you’re part of an in-joke.

Humor in writing also acts like a pressure valve. It helps us cope with stress, break awkward tension, and connect
with other people who laugh at the same weird things we do. A fake story that’s clearly tongue-in-cheek can feel
oddly honest about what we find funny, annoying, or fascinating.

How To Write A Totally Fake Story (That People Actually Want To Read)

You don’t have to be an award-winning novelist to drop a fake masterpiece in a thread like this. In fact, trying to
write something “perfect” usually kills the fun. Instead, focus on a few simple storytelling tricks that work
brilliantly in short, over-the-top posts.

1. Start With A Believable Hook

The best fake stories usually start almost normal. For example:

“I was just trying to make coffee before work when I heard a knock at the door…”

Nothing weird yet. The reader leans in because they recognize the situation. This “normal” opening gives you a
launchpad for the chaos that’s about to hit.

2. Turn The Absurdity Dial Up Slowly

Once you’ve hooked people, then you escalate. Maybe the person at the door is your future self warning you not to
microwave your cereal. Maybe your coffee machine opens a portal to a dimension where everyone speaks only in song
lyrics. The key is to climb from “that could happen” to “absolutely not” in fun, surprising steps.

• Introduce one odd detail.
• Let that detail create a weird problem.
• Escalate the problem into full-on ridiculousness.

This gradual climb keeps readers engaged instead of confusing them right from the first sentence.

3. Use Sensory Details Like A Serious Story

Just because your story is fake doesn’t mean it should be vague. Details make fake stories feel hilariously vivid:

• The exact sound of the alien’s ringtone.
• The smell of burnt toast during a time-travel accident.
• The color of the dragon’s nail polish during your performance review.

Taking your nonsense seriously and describing it clearly is what gives tall tales their charm.

4. Stick The Landing With A Twist

A good fake story knows when to exit the stage. Instead of dragging things out, land on a surprising twist or
punchline:

• A final line that flips the situation (“And that’s how I accidentally became mayor of the moon.”).
• A callback to the opening (“I never did get that cup of coffee.”).
• Or a deadpan shrug (“Anyway, that’s why my cat doesn’t trust Wi-Fi anymore.”).

Short, punchy endings are perfect for comment threads where people skim, chuckle, and move to the next story.

Fun Examples Of Totally Fake Stories (You Could Imagine In The Thread)

Just to get your creativity warmed up, here are a few sample premises that would fit right into a “totally fake
story” prompt:

• The Day My Goldfish Won An Election: You step out for five minutes and come back to find your
  goldfish trending on social media as the newest candidate for mayor, complete with campaign posters and a
  surprisingly detailed reform plan.
• My Accidental Adoption Of A Baby Dragon: You order a “self-watering houseplant” online and
  receive a slightly confused dragon who insists on being fed spicy snacks and watching cooking shows.
• The Office Printer That Predicted The Future: Every document it spits out includes one extra
  line a forecast of something that will happen in the next hour. It’s mostly annoying until the day it prints,
  “Do not go to the meeting in Room 4B.”
• Grandma’s Secret Portal Soup: Your grandma’s legendary soup recipe turns out to be a
  multi-dimensional travel method. Every spoonful drops you into a new reality where the only constant is her
  insisting you’re “too thin” and need another bowl.

Are these stories realistic? Absolutely not. Would you read every single one of them while you were supposed to be
doing something productive? Absolutely yes.

Playing Nice With Fake Stories: Boundaries Still Matter

Even in a thread explicitly labeled as “fake,” there’s an unspoken social contract. People are here to play, not
to be harmed or misled.

A good totally fake story should:

• Avoid targeting real, identifiable individuals in a cruel way.
• Skip realistic hate or harassment scenarios disguised as “jokes.”
• Stay away from serious misinformation about health, politics, or tragedy especially outside
  a clearly fictional context.

The magic of a Bored Panda-style thread is that everyone understands the rules of the game. The label “totally
fake” is an honest wink: we’re not pretending this is journalism. We’re just here to spin tall tales and bond
over shared absurdity.

Why Fake Story Threads Feel Weirdly Good For Your Brain

It might seem like “wasting time” to scroll through a bunch of exaggerated stories, but your brain is actually
doing some useful work:

• You’re practicing empathy as you imagine bizarre situations from different perspectives.
• You’re flexing your creativity as you think, “What would I write?”
• You’re taking a micro-break from stress and shifting your focus to harmless, silly fun.

Creative writing has been linked to improved problem-solving, stronger memory, and emotional regulation. Add
humor to that mix, and you get a surprisingly effective mood-booster hiding inside a comment section.

How To Join Similar Threads (Even If This One Is Closed)

While the original “Hey Pandas, Share A Totally Fake Story” post may be closed to new entries, the internet is full
of places to channel that same energy:

• Look for other Hey Pandas prompts that invite short stories, strange memories, or odd
  confessions (real or fictional).
• Join writing communities, subreddits, or forums that host tall tale contests, flash fiction
  challenges, or “two sentence stories.”
• Start your own mini-thread with friends, coworkers, or classmates: one prompt, unlimited fake stories, winner
  gets bragging rights.

The format is simple and flexible: one person posts a question, everyone else replies with their best nonsense.
It’s low effort, high reward entertainment a perfect match for modern attention spans.

Extra: Real Experiences Around Sharing Totally Fake Stories

So what is it actually like to participate in a fake-story thread as a reader or writer? Picture this: you’re
exhausted after a long day, scrolling on your phone, and you stumble on a headline inviting you to “share a
totally fake story.” At first you think, “I’ll just read a couple.” Forty-five minutes later, you’ve read
twenty stories, sent three to your friends, and you’re seriously considering writing your own about the time you
allegedly defeated a raccoon mafia in your backyard.

Many people describe a few common experiences when they join threads like this:

• The relief of not having to be serious: In most online spaces, we feel pressure to be useful,
  informed, or impressive. A fake-story prompt flips that script. You don’t need deep insight. You don’t need
  life-changing advice. You just need something amusing enough to make strangers snort-laugh.
• The joy of “me too” energy: Even when every story is fake, the shared silliness feels real.
  People reply to each other’s stories with jokes, callbacks, and lighthearted one-upmanship. You feel like
  you’ve walked into a party where everyone already gets the joke.
• The confidence boost of getting reactions: When you finally post your own fake story and it
  gets likes or comments, it hits the same reward centers as any other social media engagement but with less
  emotional risk, because you’re not baring your soul, just your sense of humor.

Some writers even use these threads as low-stakes practice. They test out character voices, play with dialogue,
and experiment with pacing. If a particular style gets a lot of enthusiastic responses, they may expand it into a
longer piece later. The comment section becomes a tiny, chaotic writing workshop where feedback sounds like:
“I lost it at the toaster scene,” or “I’d absolutely read the full novel of this.”

There’s also a quiet mental health angle. After a rough day, reading something so obviously ridiculous can be
strangely grounding. You’re reminded that not everything online has to be serious, polarized, or stressful.
Watching a community famously known as “Pandas” collectively lean into absurdity sends a comforting message:
you’re allowed to be silly, too.

And if you’re a little shy, you can still participate without posting. Maybe you start by upvoting the stories
that made you laugh the most. Maybe you bookmark a few to re-read later. Maybe one specific tall tale lodges
itself in your memory and becomes an inside joke with your friends or partner: “Careful, or the goldfish mayor
will hear about this.”

Over time, those little moments add up. You start to recognize usernames. You notice recurring in-jokes. You
realize that you’re not just scrolling; you’re quietly becoming part of a playful, global storytelling circle.
The original thread might be closed, but the experience it sparked connecting through obviously fake stories
keeps going every time someone, somewhere, thinks, “What’s the most ridiculous thing I can pretend happened to
me today?”

Conclusion: Fake Stories, Real Connection

“Hey Pandas, Share A Totally Fake Story (Closed)” is more than a quirky prompt with a catchy title. It represents
everything that’s good about online communities at their best: creativity, humor, kindness, and a shared
understanding that we’re all here to have a bit of fun.

Fake stories let us step outside reality for a while, try on outrageous possibilities, and laugh at the sheer
absurdity of it all. They remind us that storytelling isn’t only for serious novels or heartbreaking memoirs
it’s also for dragons in HR, time-traveling coffee machines, and goldfish mayors. And in a world that often feels
overwhelmingly real, that kind of silliness is not just welcome; it’s necessary.